Westfield, NJ is among the safest cities in the country, and earns an A+ PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 95% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Westfield, NJ shows violent crime at 16.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 556.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 95% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A+ from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A+ safety grade
16.1/100K violent
556.1/100K property
-95% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Westfield, NJ
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Westfield reported 5 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 31,111. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Comparable rate records
Westfield's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Jersey cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Westfield's 16.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Dumont (16.0), Roseland (16.0), Glen Rock (16.2), River Edge (16.3). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Westfield reported a lower violent-crime rate than most comparable New Jersey cities
At 16.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Westfield ranks 350 of 417 — above 67 of the 416 other New Jersey cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -76.5% against the cohort median of 68.5. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 27.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 16.1 in 2024 (-41.0%). The highest observed value was 27.2 in 2020 and the lowest 16.1 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 2.8% of the 178 Part I offenses reported in Westfield for 2024, against a median of 7.2% across comparable New Jersey cities — a gap of 4.4 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Property counts dominate Westfield's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 5 reported violent incidents in a population of 31,111. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Westfield's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 6.7 Census sq mi, Westfield logged 25.7 property and 0.7 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Westfield's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (79% of 178 offenses; mix index 6,447).
Violent offenses are only 3% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (6.7 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-35.6%
862.9 → 556.1/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-1.8%
16.4 → 16.1/100K
Property offenses lead Westfield's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
173
556.1
1711
Larceny-Theft
141
453.2
-
Burglary
19
61.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
13
41.8
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
5
16.1
352
Aggravated Assault
4
12.9
-
Robbery
1
3.2
-
Murder
0
0
-
Rape
0
0
-
Westfield Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Westfield property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Westfield Police Department
Reporting agency for Westfield NIBRS-participating
Westfield Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Westfield's 178 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in New Jersey
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the New Jersey cities closest to Westfield in population. Their populations run from 30,343 to 31,899, against 31,111 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Westfield at 16.1/100K violent and 556.1/100K property - matched below outside New Jersey (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Westfield reported 5 violent crimes and 173 property crimes, for a total of 178 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Westfield?
From 2023 to 2024, Westfield's violent crime rate decreased by 1.8%, and the property crime rate decreased by 35.6%.
What is the most common crime in Westfield?
The most common crime type in Westfield is larceny-theft, accounting for 79.2% of all reported crimes (141 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Westfield figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Westfield, NJ rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.